Re: MBT's
The MBT game uses a data driven pick list, unlike the WW2 one which does it all in large lumps of pick code. That was done for flexibility, but in retrospect not an approach i would do again.
The code driven approach in WW2 allows me to use a "PickAliedNation (formationID)" function wot I rote, say for UK planes if it was an ANZAC pick V Italy in the desert. So the air support (and maybe armour too) - might have UK ID tags, UK leader names and values etc. should you have ID tags on and look at them.
But the data driven model (the dat files are put together in spreadsheets then the numbers extracted by column to dat files) - was not really conducive to a "PickAllied()" function. Every formationID column in the spreadsheet would have needed an extra column for foreign OOB ID, at the very least. And then you would have had to select 2 columns to extract and port to the DAT file, and the wrangling of that picklist data and the umpty-five pick files per OOB is already bad enough! - Yep, the "flexibility" that the approach seemed to offer - really wasn't in retrospect. If I did it again, loads of embedded C code wins out!
I think only 2 OOB designers of ours ever really tried editing picklists, and Suhir has been the main such for the USMC - and it was a real task for them to get thier heads around. Yep, once again, dedicated code for the win, not databases!
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